M3 progress

CUCINA

Interesting...I kinda regretted not getting around to taking a picture of that house before it disappeared...would be interested in seeing your photos, if you can upload them.

CUCINA

Found a few more pictures of back of Emo garage, taken about 7 or 8 months before the ones above, showing the driveway to where the house used to stand

CUCINA

Here are a couple of more pictures I took last year...
showing construction of Fairyhouse bridge, facing south.

CUCINA

Here's the first one (still just getting used to uploading these photos1)

CUCINA

...and the other one...

CUCINA

Finally for now, a few random shots, all taken last year around the Fairyhouse area...

sofireland

I've heard a few rumours they are confident this will be finished ahead of schedule, they seem to be lashing into it recently.

Any idea when we can expect it to open?

upmeath

sofireland wrote: »

Any idea when we can expect it to open?

I've heard a few people saying it could be as soon as late September/early October, but I've read nothing in print.

slystone

It appears that the NRA in its wisdom has decided to close access to the Trim Road from the M3 at Blackbull. As a commuter, If you want to get to Batterstown you will have to exit at Pace/Dunboyne, negotiate the roundabouts, local traffic, travel to Blackbull/Fairyhouse Cross roundabout to get down onto the Trim Road.

It seems that a deliberate decision has been made to make it difficult for local commuters to get to the Trim Road. This decision, was obviously made to the detriment of any commuters living down the Trim Road in favour of the Toll Operators.

This is a disgrace. Especially, when it would have been easy and logical to put a slip road exit onto the Trim Road from the M3.

Don't know what can be done now but it is storing up a whole heap of commuter misery for anyone living down the Trim Road.

highdef

The M3 has not opened yet and there never was going to be a direct connection to the Trim Road so I can't see how they have "closed" the access if the access was never there in the first place. You will now (and currently already do) get to the Trim Road via the new link road. It's not a big deal and is only a slight deviation from the old N3 route. The exit roundabout onto the Trim Road also has the benefit when heading citybound of giving you right of way over traffic heading south/Dublin bound from the north/Navan. This saves a lot of time and more importantly is a lot safer than was the dangerous setup before the works began.
As you know, there are quite a number of houses near Black Bull, especially on the road that goes from near the end of the Trim Road and runs parallel in a south easterly direction to the N3 where it joins (well joined as it no longer connects to the N3 anymore) the N3 a km or two southeast, and on the Trim road itself. An interchange would've been rather impractical with all the houses involved and the distance you would be travelling from the end of the Clonee bypass to the Trim Road really does not necessitate building another interchange for the sake of about 4km.
And you also state that you have to negotiate the roundabouts (note the plural) and also the Blackbull/Fairyhouse Cross roundabout. From this, it implies there are a minimum of 3 roundabouts, when in fact there are only two in total, including the Blackbull/Fairyhouse Cross roundabout. And the Blackbull/Fairyhouse Cross roundabout is a godsend for getting off the Trim Road when heading citybound in the mornings.
Face it, when the roads are complete, you will be a lot quicker getting from the Trim Road to the Clonee bypass than before any construction took place, considering that you would spend a minimum of 5 minutes (often nearer 10 mins or more on some days) just getting from the the back of the queue on the Trim Road and onto the N3.

CUCINA

Went for a cycle along part of the M3 yesterday. I was surprised at how much progress they have made in the four weeks since I was last there. I was able to cycle continuously on a smooth surface from the access point on the Trim road right through the toll at Fairyhouse and on to the Summerhill road north of Dunboyne, a distance of around 12 kilometres. The only rough patch was when cycling under Fairyhouse bridge...
One of the roundabouts is fully signed, with road markings etc., so overall the whole project seems to be going full steam ahead.
Let's hope that the idiotic strike by the electricians, with their pickets on construction sites ,doesn't put the kybosh on things...

CUCINA

As the M3 project enters its completion phase, what now for the Churchtown Chief of Mischief and his Cheerless Chanters?

IIMII

CUCINA wrote: »

Interesting...I kinda regretted not getting around to taking a picture of that house before it disappeared...would be interested in seeing your photos, if you can upload them.

dixiefly

CUCINA wrote: »

Went for a cycle along part of the M3 yesterday. I was surprised at how much progress they have made in the four weeks since I was last there. I was able to cycle continuously on a smooth surface from the access point on the Trim road right through the toll at Fairyhouse and on to the Summerhill road north of Dunboyne, a distance of around 12 kilometres. The only rough patch was when cycling under Fairyhouse bridge...
One of the roundabouts is fully signed, with road markings etc., so overall the whole project seems to be going full steam ahead.
Let's hope that the idiotic strike by the electricians, with their pickets on construction sites ,doesn't put the kybosh on things...

Did you access this at the roundabout that has the turn to Dunshaughlin on the Trim side of it?

kelle

Cucina, did that house belong to a famous musician, or is that the mansion that was next door to it?

dolmen

Careful of the infamous stretch of N3 between Cavan by-pass and Belturbet. 9 deaths on 10k of narrow twisting N3.Belturbet by-pass on shelf again. So Dublin to Enniskillen 2010 ..............Motorway to Kells. Narrowing at Lisduff. New bottleneck in Virginia.

CUCINA

Thanks to IIMII for the photo...It must feel strange for the people who used to live there to look at the site of the house now...just a flat, empty plain...in answer to Kelle, I don't know anything about who used to live there I'm afraid...and Dixiefly, yes, I did access at that roundabout. I notice that it is also accessed by Sunday strollers. Strictly speaking, we're all trespassers but hey, I wouldn't say we are at the top of the INTERPOL list of the most wanted!

kelle

I remember that house, and it's weird looking at the photo knowing it doesn't exist anymore. It doesn't matter how much the Council would pay you for acquiring your house, it's full of memories and when it turns into a flat plain it must be just awful.

Then, of course there are victims of war who have seen the entire village they grew up in
reduced to rubble who would scowl at what I've written above...

hmboards

On the new stretch of road near the Emo garage at Dunboyne, there's an old stone house/farm building which was half demolished and comes right up to the roadside. Does anyone know the story behind this ? It's always struck me as strange that half the building was left standing.

Stroke Politics

hmboards wrote: »

On the new stretch of road near the Emo garage at Dunboyne, there's an old stone house/farm building which was half demolished and comes right up to the roadside. Does anyone know the story behind this ? It's always struck me as strange that half the building was left standing.

I heard that that was the old Bruton homestead, where Joe, father of John and Richard Bruton was born. Might be a preservation order on it....

hmboards

I wondered if it has some historical significance. Apparently Joe Bruton was born in Dublin though.

http://www.meathchronicle.ie/news/meathsouth/articles/2009/03/04/36736-thousands-turn-out-to-pay-respects-to-late-joe-bruton/

Maybe it was his father that was born there ?

Irish and Proud

IIMII wrote: »

...daunting alright...

...but the reason why we need motorways like the M3 (commuter road) in Meath is due to the appalling sprawl of houses across the county. IMO, it is only right that such houses should be the first thing to make way any highway development in Meath - houses which have generated the traffic volumes in the first place!

Regards!

IIMII

I might be wrong, but I think the owners of that house had another one just built a hundred metres up the road from it. That is just a guess

Re Bruton home, they used to graze cattle around where Dunboyne station was / is, so I'm not sure if that half demolished barn had anything to do with them

Dubh Geannain

Now I'm new to the area so I don't know if the Meath Echo is a respected Rag but I was reading it last week where it said that the cost of a round trip on the new motorway would be €11.50 or thereabouts :eek:

Is this right and wtf?

If you happened to be working in somwhere like Parkwest you'd be paying about €17 a day for the privilage of road use. Seems very steep to me, what's the point of road tax at all?

Are there any plans to buy out the toll operators after X amount of years or anything like that?

GeneHunt

The new R125 link road between N3 (north of Dunshaughtlin) and R154 (Trim road) was opened today – great improvement over the old Drumree road.

CUCINA

GeneHunt wrote: »

The new R125 link road between N3 (north of Dunshaughtlin) and R154 (Trim road) was opened today – great improvement over the old Drumree road.

That's good news...the only thing is, though, there goes part of the route I sometimes took to have a peaceful, traffic-free, cycle on the occasional Sunday afternoon while the road-building was in progress!

Irish and Proud

CUCINA wrote: »

That's good news...the only thing is, though, there goes part of the route I sometimes took to have a peaceful, traffic-free, cycle on the occasional Sunday afternoon while the road-building was in progress!

Same thing happened me a few years ago. During some road works in the area, I had a massive cycle track (in fact, there were two 11.5m pavements) to myself - it was extremely straight, smooth and completely separated from any road - a dream cycle track - until they took it away from the pedestrians and cyclists and declared it as the M1 - Cheek! :pac:

I won't despair yet, there might be another giant cycle track in the years ahead. I think it's the one going from Drogheda (Platin) to Navan, Trim and Newbridge/Kilcullen (M7/M9)!

Can't Wait!!!

CUCINA

Just posted some photos on the M3 thread of the "infrastructure" forum, which I took this morning (before the rain came!)